A Common Sense Approach to Beauty, Style, Health and Food

The Healthy Strawberry Meringue Pie is low-calorie, high-protein, all-natural, paleo and gluten-free with the delicately pink cloud-like filling that is accompanied by the crunchy pistachio crust. This pie is also super-easy to make and makes a perfect anytime snack or a low-calorie dessert!

Hi, friend!

Happy upcoming Mother’s Day! For this very special occasion I really wanted to make something sweet and healthy (well, guessed it! 🙂 ), delicate, and very-very pretty… Just like our beautiful Moms!

And I believe that this Healthy Strawberry Meringue Pie is just that:

Healthy and good for us (so that the Mom can approve our healthy eating habits!)

Light, delicate and airy – it kind of looks like a big pink cloud which reminds me of my precious childhood memories when I actually WAS living on a cloud! 🙂

But to just be precise here’re a few things that I loved about making this pie:

I loved how fast and easy it was to compose something this pretty! I mean… really: it’s no-bake (OK, except for the crust: you can definitely use a store-bought gram cracker crust, but I loved making my own pistachio crust! And it literally took me 30 minutes to make and bake this crust from the beginning to an end! )

I loved it how the light, sweet and airy filling was completed by the crunchy pistachio crust!

It’s VERY-low-calorie! (1 slice is just 95 calories, including the crust!)

It’s paleo and gluten-free

It is super-healthy: yes! Because the egg whites in the meringue provide us with the healthy lean protein, the nuts add a small amount of healthy fat and the strawberries are just filled with all kinds of vitamins and antioxidants!

It’s all-natural! No protein-powders, dies or additives!

Finally… well you know how much I love all things Marshmallow and Meringue! 🙂 But… Hey! You can never get enough of a good thing! 🙂 Especially if you end up with a super-pretty pie like this one! Right? 🙂So… what do you think, my friend? Does any of it make sense to you? (please let me know if something doesn’t so that I can correct myself right away!)Happy Mother’s Day my friends! To you and your beautiful Moms!…And to My Beautiful Mom! Mommy, you are the BEST! I LOVE YOU!!!!!!!! 🙂… And as always, I can’t wait to hear what you think of this recipe in the comments below!

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Healthy Strawberry Meringue Pie with Pistachio Crust

The Healthy Strawberry Meringue Pie is low-calorie, high-protein, all-natural, paleo and gluten-free with the delicately pink cloud-like filling that is accompanied by the crunchy pistachio crust. This pie is also super-easy to make and makes a perfect anytime snack or a low-calorie dessert!

Course Dessert, Mousse, Pie

Cuisine American, Russian

Prep Time30minutes

Cook Time20minutes

Total Time50minutes

Servings16slices

Calories95kcal

AuthorLiza

Ingredients

For the Pie Crust:

1cupflour of choice

1/2cuproasted pistachiosplus 2 more tbsp., optional

2tbspsugar

1tspsalt*

2tbspbutterat room temperature

For the Strawberry Filling:

1cupstrawberries

4egg whites

2packetsgelatin

1/3cupsugar or erythritol

1/4tspcream of tartar

1tspvanilla extract

1tspcorn starch

For the Coconut Whipped Cream (optional, higher-calorie, but healthy and pretty!)

1canfull-fat coconut milk

2-3tbspsugar or erythritol

1tspvanilla extract**

Instructions

Spray a 9 inch pie dish with some oil.

Blend all the pistachios in a food processor until they are finely chopped. If desired set aside 2 tbsp of chopped pistachios to sprinkle over the pie. Add the sugar, flour and salt and pulse a few more times to incorporate.

Add the butter and the egg whites to the processor and pulse a few more times until the ingredients are incorporated (you will get a very crumbly dough).

To make the crust preheat the oven to 375 F. Press the dough into the pie dish and put the it in the freezer (just a few minutes while the oven is getting preheating is enough, but you can also wrap it in plastic and freeze it for the later use).

Pierse the crust a few times with a fork and bake it for about 20 minutes or until golden-brown. Set the baked crust aside to cool completely.

For the filling blend the strawberries in a food processor until smooth. Pour the strawberry puree into a saucepan and bring to boil over a medium heat. Let it boil for a few minutes until it's cooked through.

In a small dish add 2 tbsp of cool water to the gelatin and stir until all the gelatin is wet. Add the gelatin to the hot strawberry puree right after you turn off the heat under the pan. Stir to incorporate the melting gelatin in the hot puree. Add the vanilla extract and stir it in, too. Set aside to cool.

While the strawberry and gelatin mixture is cooling down begin whipping the egg whites with the cream of tartar. When they become a bit frothy add the sugar or the erythritol and keep whipping until the meringue is stiff. Add the corn starch and whip for another minute to incorporate.

With the mixer still running begin adding the strawberry mixture to the meringue, a tablespoon at a time. After all the mixture is in keep whipping for a few more minutes. The mixture will grow in volume as it's being whipped.

Pour the strawberry meringue into the pie shell and gently press it down so that you don't have any bubbles of air between the shell and the filling.

Put the pie in the fridge and let it cool for at least 1 hour or overnight.

If desired sprinkle the pie with some reserved ground pistachios and serve with the strawberries and the coconut whipped cream.

To make the coconut whipped cream refrigerate the can of coconut milk for at least 4 hours or overnight.

When ready to whip the cream stick a metal mixing bowl in a freezer for a few minutes. Take the bowl out and, trying not to shake the can take it out of the fridge, open it and scoop out the thicker "cream" part of the milk into the bowl. Add the sugar and vanilla and whip the coconut cream for about 2 minutes until fluffy. Use immediately.

Recipe Notes

*If you're using the salted pistachios - omit adding the salt to the crust.

**I used the strawberry extract instead of the vanilla extract to make the "Strawberry scented whipped cream".